24 People rescued after being stuck on Invertigo @ PGA

[BrianPlencner]

Did not see the posted yet, so I figured I would pass it on for those that did not hear about this. Also, I know it is no longer PGA (Paramounts Great Amerca), but that 3 letter code fits nice in the subject line. I also did not want to put just "Great America" and confuse people on here. To be clear, this happened at the Santa Clara Great America.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_13034723

Rescue team removes 24 people stuck on Great America ride for four hours
By Bruce Newman, Howard Mintz, April Dembosky and Joe Rodriguez Mercury News
Posted: 08/10/2009 09:51:24 PM PDT
Updated: 08/10/2009 11:16:17 PM PDT

Great America introduced a new adventure to 24 thrill seekers Monday — their high-speed Invertigo roller coaster that ground to a torturous halt near its zenith and remained stuck for hours in the sweltering afternoon heat, suspending riders as high as 80 feet in the air before they were rescued by firefighters.

The Santa Clara amusement park's Invertigo roller coaster, which ordinarily specializes in turning people upside down, instead got stuck on the tracks, stranding two dozen people for an afternoon just as they began the adrenaline-filled ascent to the top of the ride. Park officials and state investigators are trying to determine why the ride malfunctioned. The coaster stopped about 1 p.m., leaving the riders strapped in their seats, legs dangling in the air while firefighters hoisted basket-topped ladders to retrieve them one by one. It took more than four hours in 95-degree heat before the last relieved patron reached the ground.

"It was frightening. It was scary," said 14-year-old Dennis Espinoza, of San Lorenzo. "We thought we were going to die."

The first thing he did when safely back on ground: Rush to the bathroom. Then he was ready for other rides.

Carmelita Espinoza, the teen's mother, was alerted by park officials while her son remained suspended on the ride.

"I was so nervous," she said. "I just cried. I wanted to go there."

Janet Armstrong, a 39-year-old Oakland woman who was next in line to go on
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the ill-fated ride, watched as the Invertigo's operator cringed when the trains screeched to an unexpected halt.

"I knew the sound wasn't good," she said later.

The mishap, the third on the ride since 2000, rippled through the park and on the Internet, which buzzed with reports of the idled roller coaster. Great America shut down most of its major rides after Invertigo went inert, drawing groans and complaints from park visitors, many of them students trying to squeeze the last joys out of summer before school begins. Some patrons said park officials tried to discourage gawkers and also tried to shoo away people trying to photograph the bizarre scene.

"We spent so much money and we've only been able to go on two rides," said Haley Geiger, of Danville, who went to Great America with her sister, Carly. "They don't want anybody to see what's happening."

Park spokesman Jim Stellmack had little information to provide on the ride's history, or on possible refunds for park visitors who got less than they bargained for, but he did say all park rides are inspected each morning. However, Santa Clara Deputy Fire Chief Augie Wiedeman said the stranded roller coaster riders remained calm throughout the rescue effort, and no medical problems were reported. "For most of them, they were eager to get back to the rides," he said.

Two ladder trucks — one with a basket that can accommodate two or three people and is capable of reaching a height of 110 feet — brought the riders down, ending the effort shortly before 6 p.m.

Invertigo was near its 28-person capacity when it stopped, half of the riders facing forward, looking up to the sky while the others, with their seats facing backward, looking down the ride's tracks. The firefighters had a delicate task for the riders facing backward because their seats were tilting toward the ground and they could have fallen when their safety harnesses were released.

Invertigo has had two similar breakdowns in the past, the most recent in 2001 when it jammed at 138 feet, the steepest point of the ride. In 2000, the roller coaster encountered a shutdown similar to Monday's unwelcome mishap when 25 people were left dangling in their seats for about 30 minutes, none of them injured. That was a less dramatic rescue, however, as park officials were able to back the coaster down to the starting platform.

Invertigo climbs to a 138-foot drop, reaching a top speed of 50 miles per hour, leaving riders upside down six times during the whirlwind trip. When it opened in 1998, it gave Great America the distinction of being the first amusement park in the nation with two inverted roller coasters.

"These are machines, and they do break down," said Erika Monterroza, a spokeswoman for California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. She said inspectors would immediately investigate the breakdown, and an inquiry into the incident could be completed in a matter of days or as long as several months, depending on the cause of the breakdown.

[Ilovthevu']

Thank god they rescued them from that horrible coaster. Give me a break. I've seen Demon get stuck just like this ride, but yet they don't make a big deal about it. It's because this ride like Deja Vu doesn't have any stairs to get people evacuated that they have to be "rescued" from the danger. At op works at Dorney Park, and he has said that Talon got stuck at least once this year.

So big deal, and don't say that Vekoma made this design horrible, and no other manufacturer gets stuck like this because they do. Yes, they should make stairs in order to get people off, but other than that, this design hasn't been broke when I have ridden it at Kings Island. The only problem I have with this design is that the harnesses are so much closer to your head than basically any roller coaster. I don't understand why they had to do that, but still.

[UWW-10]

I really don't see the need or reason to have closed down everything else...I could see rides in the area for rescue access but it sounds like they closed the entire park. I understand you want to keep the "gawking" and people who standby to a minimum but do you really have to close everything to do this?

Why anger thousands of people when 24 are already upset?

[sixflagsgurneeboy]

They just had a 15 second snippet of it on the 11:30 local news(7). The people on it looked and were acting if it was just average breakdown lol.according to the article most of the people went to other rides after they were rescued. Leave it to the media to make something bigger than it really is..

[rct2wizard360]

I'm almost sure this is the only roller coaster to make national headlines three times because of a normal breakdown.

Give me a break.

[FParker185]

I don't know if it was quite normal seeing at the fire department had to be brought in to rescue the people. But it's still being blown way out of proportion. Still not sure why they didn't manually release the train from the lift to fall into the brakes and evac people with the evac platform or at least near the ground. But I guess the world will never know.

[Cove26flags]

I would not be scared at all if I was stuck at the part of the ride. Maybe if were in the loop or boomerang then yeah.

[Chitown]

^I don't think anyone here would be scared , but it would just flat out suck to be sitting there for 4-5 hours in the blistering heat.

[monsterfan99]

Getting stuck on an invert is fine. However, walking down the Raptor midcourse breakrun at night is a pain in the butt.

[Ilovthevu']

They should have just released the catchcar from the train, and let it go into the station back and forth until it stops. I think the station has brakes like Deja Vu, and Boomerang. Maybe, the lifthill motor broke. On that ride, the lifthills are on sort of like a lifthill chain you would see on Batman the Ride, and it carries the catchcar back and forth instead of a cable like how Deja Vu is.

I think the station has brakes. I know I was looking at the loop, and that doesn't compared to Deja Vu, but it's also smaller.

[FRD714]

Wow, those people over-exaggerated a bit with the comments in the article.

[SFaddiction84]

There must have been something wrong that they could not release the car and just let it coast back and forth. It sounds like it was just more then the "Breaks" Slamming on and stopping the Car maybe?